here is this somewhat more timely report on the Inauguration of President
Obama from NBC-TV's Andrea Mitchell on the "Nightly News", Jan. 20,
2009: “What a day it was. It may take days or years to really absorb
the significance of what happened to America today....When he [Barack
Obama] finally emerged, he seemed, even in this throng, so solitary,
somber, perhaps already feeling the weight of the world, even before
he was transformed into the leader of the free world....The mass
flickering of cell phone cameras on the Mall seemed like stars shining
back at him.” How does one comment on this media attempt to make
him "the anointed one?"
Our research found these examples of "What Others Are Saying."
Wm. Cohen (Fmr. Secretary of Defense): who spoke of the "overly
intrusive probes of TSA employees who treat errant paper clips as
lethal box-cutters and make you feel your next stop is Guantanamo."
Donald Trump (Legendary entrepreneur): "With the coldest winter
ever recorded, with snow setting record levels up and down the coast,
the Nobel committee should take Al Gore's Nobel Prize back."
Howard Dean (Fmr. Democrat presidential candidate): "Americans
don't know what's going on and therefore the media can have their way
with them intellectually."
Mike Hukabee (Fmr. Arkansas Governor): "If we want to keep our
nation's secrets SECRET ... store them where President Obama stores
his college transcripts and birth certificate."
Ann Coulter (Conservative commentator): "The Pentagon's poll on
'don't ask, don't tell' is beyond idiotic. Instead of asking whether the
troops support repeal of DADT, the Pentagon asked only if they can
learn to play nice with the gays."
Skip MacLure (In Conservative Outpost): "I’m pretty certain that
every bad actor worldwide is watching Obama’s fumbling
mismanagement of the affairs of our nation, looking for every
weakness, every security lapse, every leak. As recent events have
shown us, that can be considerable... Obama’s boondoggles are legion
and their cumulative effect will not be known for years yet ...Our
enemies gather while Obama and his socialist cabal secretly, and not
so secretly, do everything they possibly can to weaken this country in
the face of the threat we face, in a world seemingly gone mad and at
the brink of conflagration."
Jay Leno (late night TV humorist): "It was bad enough when the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents would go
through your underwear in your luggage. Now they’re going through
your underwear while you’re wearing it.”
Tony Perkins (Family Research Council): "If you open the dictionary
to the definition of 'obsessed,' don't be surprised if you see a picture
of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The Senate Majority Leader is so
completely hung-up on the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal that he seems
almost legislatively paralyzed. Webster's calls obsession a 'persistent
disturbing preoccupation with an often unreasonable idea' -- and that's
exactly what we've witnessed from Senate leaders these last few weeks."
A great touch of humor amid all the Washington political wrangling.
It was almost a breath of sanity in the clouds of confusion, bungling and
uncertainty that dominate the Washington scene these days. And if you
find it hard to conceive of Bill Clinton as representing sanity -- at least
it was a change from the teleprompted inanities which characterize the
Obama speeches. This headline from the NY Post said it well: "Clinton
steals show from Obama at White House." And here's the story from
the Post, in case you missed seeing the comedy show on TV: "Bubba's
back in charge! After making brief remarks in a joint appearance
following their private meeting, Obama graciously ceded the
microphone to Clinton. Clinton grabbed it and proceeded to hold court
for the next 30 minutes in a dominating performance, leaving Obama
looking like a bystander, instead of the leader of the free world ...'I'm
going to let him speak very briefly,' Obama said, saying he had to go
to 'just one more Christmas party' -- and then looked on in silence as
his Democratic predecessor expounded on a series of subjects ...
Obama then literally looked at his watch and then left, leaving Clinton
to soliloquize about taxes, Haiti, interest rates and community banking."
Or as the Washington Post put it: "If not a transfer of power, the whole
show seemed at least a temporary handoff." For just those few minutes,
it seemed like we were hearing from someone who understands what is
going on in our world today.
Obama again shows that he and Christianity don't fit together well.
During his recent trip to India and Indonesia, he mis-quoted the motto
of the United States in a speech at the University of Indonesia: "In the
United States, our motto is E pluribus unum — out of many, one," he
said, then compared it to the Indonesian motto, "Bhennika Tunggal Ika
— unity in diversity." The official motto of the U.S., designated by a
1956 law, is "In God We Trust." ("E pluribus unum" appears on the
ribbon held in the beak of the eagle on the Great Seal of the U.S.) The
erroneous reference followed his omission of the "Creator" when
speaking of the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence.
The students at the Indonesian university probably know what the official
U.S. motto really is, but members of the Congressional Prayer Caucus
have sent the president a letter, calling upon him to issue a public
correction for "misrepresenting things as foundational as the
Declaration of Independence and our national motto." In her own
inimitable style, Ann Coulter has made this assessment of the president's
religious beliefs: "The nonsense about President Obama being a
Muslim has got to stop. I rise to defend him from this absurd accusation
by pointing out that he is obviously an atheist... Leave aside the fact
that neither of his parents were Christians ... The only evidence for
Obama's Christianity is that he faithfully attended the Rev. Jeremiah
Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years. Yes, the guy
bellowing 'God damn America!' is the one vouching for Obama's
Christianity."
And now here are a few random, "Afterthoughts" . . .
The TSA "love pats" screening rules cause a diplomatic problem.
The Indian Ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar, was pulled from an
airport security line and patted down by a TSA agent in Jackson, MS,
despite having told them of her diplomatic status. Our Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton says the administration would be “reviewing the policies”
after this pat-down of India’s ambassador -- who was wearing a
traditional sari -- brought a rebuke from New Delhi. India's external
affairs minister called for an apology, telling reporters at parliament in
New Delhi that the incident was “unacceptable to India.” It would
seem that some intelligent "profiling" would make sense and avoid
confusion and more incidents like this one -- but for some reason, the
Liberals have made "profiling" an almost obscene word in this country.
And speaking of that PC rejected concept of "profiling" -- In just
the last month, several taxi cab drivers in New York have been robbed,
shot, stabbed and killed. The suspects have been predominately black
or Hispanic. But now, cabbies are firing back -- racially profiling fares
and being told not to pick them up. "I don't care about racial profiling.
Sometimes it's good that we are racially profiling. The God's honest
truth is 99 percent of the people that are robbing, stealing, killing
these drivers are blacks and Hispanics," said New York Taxi Cab
Union President, Fernando Mateo. The Sacramento Taxi Cab Ass'n.
Vice President Kazman Zaidi agrees with Mateo, noting that in the
California capital city the last six violent crimes against local cabbies
were also committed by blacks and Hispanics.
In case you weren't aware of it: a Bloomberg National Poll, conducted
Dec. 4-7, disclosed that more than 50 percent of Americans say they are
worse off now than two years ago when President Obama took office,
and two-thirds believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
Janet Napolitano used a forbidden phrase, "Islamist terrorism," when
as head of Homeland Security she said last week:“My assessment is that
the threat environment now is increasingly active and that it is not
restricted to plots that are hatched overseas and then flown into the
United States, but that it also now includes an increasing amount of
hometown or homegrown terrorist activity, particularly by individuals
who have become radicalized and associated with Al Qaeda or Islamist
terrorism beliefs and techniques and tactics.” Ooooops . . . .
Important words from our nation's Founding Fathers . . .
This has always been an imporant part of ANC, because we feel that the
men who actually established the United States of America did so under
strong convictions as to what this nation should be. Not all of those who
are in positions of leadershp in our government agree, or some of them
do not even understand who or what the "Founding Fathers" were. A
case in point was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's statement last week
when she spoke in favor of the "Dream Act," and she said that the
founders came to this country to make America more American. But here
is her quote: "In coming here, these new comers, from that time a
couple hundred years ago and to this day, by coming with that
optimism and hope and commitment to a better future for the next
generation, they made America more American. So tonight, we have
an opportunity to identify with the aspirations of our founders." What
she obviously doesn't understand is that of the 56 signers of the
Declaration of Independence, all but 9 were born in the 13 colonies, and
of those 9, only James Wilson and Alexander Hamilton are ranked as
among the most quoted Founding Fathers. No, Nancy -- the Founding
Fathers did not come to America; they were born here on this continent,
and created this nation.
But before we present this week's selection of quotes from our Founding
Fathers, here is a bit of history, relevant to this time of the year, which
reminds us of what kind of men they were. On December 12, 1787,
Pennsylvania became the 2nd state to join the new Union. One of the
Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, was serving as Governor of
Pennsylvania, and helped draft the state's 1776 Constitution, which
included this requirement for every member of the state's legislature:
"Each member of the legislature, before he takes his seat, shall make
and subscribe the following declaration: 'I do believe in one God,
the Creator and Governour of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good
and Punisher of the wicked, and I do acknowledge the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration.'"
And, Nancy, here are some of the other things they believed:
"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection,
safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit,
honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men;
therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and
indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or
totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity,
and happiness require it." -- John Adams, 1776
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the
people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe
depositories." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1781
"It is too early for politicians to presume on our forgetting that the
public good, the real welfare of the great body of the people, is the
supreme object to be pursued; and that no form of government
whatsoever has any other value than as it may be fitted for the
attainment of this object." -- James Madison, 1788